


Making Lemonade

by Dogsled



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-27 23:26:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5068936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dogsled/pseuds/Dogsled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, just on the briefest occasion, Gaila found her eyes lingering on the beauty she held, tears sparkling like starlight in her eyelashes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Lemonade

**Author's Note:**

  * For [polkadot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/polkadot/gifts).



Gaila's parents had raised her to face the world with cheery optimism. Well--not her parents. Her adoptive parents. They'd taken her into their home when she was very small, all alone in the world, and her life had improved on such a sharp curb since then that even when things were most difficult, during her teenage years, Gaila made lemonade with her lemons. She had an overwhelming amount of love, passion, and it was all she could do to put it out into the world at every opportunity.

Not that it was often reciprocated...or in some cases even understood.

Coming to the Academy had meant its own challenges. Even though there had been the occasional Orion at the Academy in the past, it still wasn't entirely easy. Her pheromones made it difficult, particularly when she was required to spend significant amounts of time trapped in small spaces with her fellow cadets. It was just one more thing that she had to learn to control, learn to work with. All species had their strengths and weaknesses, and while among her own people, her pheromones would have been key to her survival, they were the opposite here, a tribulation to be dealt with.

For that reason, she was grateful to be bunked with Nyota. Maybe at first she'd been...cold, efficient, caught up in her own talent and uninterested in making friends, but Gaila had warmed her up, made her laugh, taught her her own philosophy of smiles, and laughter, and more. She'd held her when she cried, and celebrated with her when she had her successes--and they were many.

And yet, sometimes... Sometimes, just on the briefest occasion, Gaila found her eyes lingering on the beauty she held, tears sparkling like starlight in her eyelashes. She found herself watching the long, slender body uncoil beside her, and felt interest flickering to life inside her; practically couldn't help it. It seemed unfair that the one thing that she wanted, even after years of being roommates, would never come to her on account of her physiology. It was something she had to earn, Nyota would never be affected by her pheromones, never fall for Gaila just because she was there.

The first time they kissed was the first time that Gaila had ever really earned a kiss. She didn't exactly have to go out of her way to procure male partners, and she loved none of them any less than the last. She was used often, betrayed often, but it was more of an annoyance than something that genuinely hurt. Life was too short, and love was simple--when she slept with people they were happy, and if happiness was her goal then she spread it far and wide, and took back from it. Her relationships never lasted, but her breakups were never sour.

Nyota, on the other hand? Sometimes she just suffered, and even if she was really good at standing her own, sometimes she needed the emotional support that her roommate could offer. Gaila hadn't been good at it, in the beginning. She'd been too cheerful in the past, too optimistic about the future, and she hadn't given enough room to the possibility that Nyota just needed to suffer through some pain in order to make the loss feel significant, somehow. She didn't understand it, but she'd adapted to it in the end. Learned.

This time, though, when she brushed the tears away from her friend's cheek, Nyota had looked up, the light had caught in her eyes, pupils blown, and Gaila had seen it as the signal she'd been waiting for. Their lips had brushed together, barely, breath catching, and then Nyota had responded, gently and passionately. It was a beautiful kiss, and for its genuine innocence, its passion, Gaila could only be surprised. She'd never felt anything like it, a kiss so free and real.

And it didn't ruin anything. Nyota still smiled at her, cried with her, celebrated with her, still chided her playfully when she brought boys back to their room, but at the end of the day they were friends - beloved friends - and that was all that mattered.


End file.
